Author Notes

Leonard Goldberg, M.D ., is a consulting physician in Los Angeles and is affiliated with UCLA Medical Center, where he is a clinical professor. He is also a highly sought-after expert witness in medical malpractice trials. He is the author of Deadly Exposure, Deadly Harvest, Deadly Care, Deadly Medicine , and A Deadly Practice (all available from Signet). A native of South Carolina, Dr. Goldberg makes his home in Los Angeles.

Booklist Review

Domestic terrorists used to appear only in novels. With the Oklahoma City bombing and other disasters, including supposed accidents that can be blamed on them, they have become front-page news. Goldberg neatly combines the fictional and newspaper types of terrorists. His acutely observant, quick-thinking forensic pathologist series heroine, Joanna Blalock, and her good, gray protector, ace-detective Jake Sinclair, become involved with the brutal and clever terrorist clutch, Ten Righteous. The vengeful Eva, the band's callous leader, is a character out of paranoiac media fantasies about Idaho survivalists and black helicopters: she kills and tosses aside coworkers, police, and medical personnel used in her "project" as if they were small animals. Joanna gets sidetracked from Eva and crew by a handsome, smooth-talking banker, until he loses his temper. About time, for meanwhile Eva has cut her payroll by four Mexican assistants in a lethal test run for the main show: offing the president--of the U.S. Goldberg grips the gold again in a believable thriller with one humdinger of a tension-filled finale. --William Beatty

Publisher's Weekly Review

Intrepid heroine Joanna Blalock, the beautiful and brilliant medical investigator from Los Angeles, returns for her sixth outing in this fast-moving but oddly flavorless medical thriller. This time she confronts a group of terrorist bombers plotting to kill the president of the U.S., but she has no inkling of the connection when she is called upon, as a forensic pathologist, to investigate the carnage and debris left after a catastrophic explosion kills several dozen people in a quiet neighborhood. Assigned to this grim task, Blalock quickly makes several intriguing discoveries, chiefly among them is that several of the victims were in the terminal stages of fatal diseases, and some of them wore artificial limbs. Equally strange, the evidence indicates they were actually making or holding the bombs at the time of explosion, leading Blalock and her on-and-off lover, homicide detective Jake Sinclair, to speculate that the victims may have been terrorists who killed themselves, so there's nothing further to worry about. That theory, however, is demolished when the terrorists strike again. They kill the only witness to the explosion, then bomb Blalock's lab, destroying almost all remaining evidence, then they kidnap her and set their murderous sights on the president. Though Goldberg (Deadly Exposure, etc.) keeps a lively pace, elements of this thriller lack the riveting suspense of his earlier outings. As the plot grinds to a predictable close, his cast of characters does even less to engage the imagination. The terrorists, members of a group called the Ten Righteous, are stock villains whose personalities are as banal as their motivation for killing the president. The supporting cast is also disappointing, but Goldberg, a physician himself, enlivens the book with his formidable knowledge of forensic investigation, creating a graphic but believable foundation for his tale. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Library Journal Review

Goldberg's sixth medical suspense novel (after Deadly Exposure) reunites forensic pathologist Joanna Blalock and Lieutenant Jake Sinclair. Sleuths and ex-lovers, they team up to investigate a catastrophic explosion in Los Angeles that threatens nationals safety and security. Blalock is a whiz at deciphering clues, particularly those based in pathology; Sinclair contributes toughness, determination, and years of experience in police work. Together they racec against time to unravel an intricate and savage pl;ot devised and implemented by the Ten Righteous, a fanatical anti-government group that infiltrates a major hospital, preys on cancer patients, and threatens numerous others_including the president of the United States . The mystery of this novel is exciting and intellectually interesting; this reader felt challenged to slove it throughout. The Blalock-Sinclair relationship provides great chemistry and a sense of romance. Goldberg, a consulting physician in Los Angeles, has written an absorbing tale appropriate for all fiction collections.-Linda M.G. Katz, Florence A. Moore Lib. of Medicine, MCP Hahnemann Univ., Philadelphia (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.